RAMADAS MOTOR TRANSPORT PRIVATE LTD Vs. LABOUR COURT

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THE management of Sri Ramadas Motor Transport (Private), Ltd. , Kakinada, is the petitioner. They ask for a writ of certiorari to quash the order of the labour court, Guntur, in Miscellaneous Petition No. 132 of 1963. This miscellaneous petition was preferred by the management under Section 33 (3) of the Industrial Disputed Act, for permission of the labour Court to dismiss respondent 2, Umamaheswara Sarma, who la a "protected workman. " The labour court dismissed the Miscellaneous Petition No. 132 of 1963 filed by the management for the purpose and directed respondent 2, who was dismissed by the management to be reinstated. Consequently the management has filed this present writ petition.

(2.) THE main argument raised on behalf of the petitioner is that the labour court, in passing the Impugned order, far exceeded Its legitimate powers and jurisdiction under Section 33 (3) of the Industrial Disputes Act. It is urged that the labour court cannot assume to Itself the role of an appellate tribunal sitting In appeal over the action taken or orders passed by the domestic tribunal. It is further argued that the labour court has altogether missed the point and approached the task before It from quite a wrong angle. It also erred, according to the petitioner's learned Counsel, In that It substituted Its own rather personal views for the views on which the domestic tribunal acted.

(3.) IT seems to me that there is substance In these contentions. According to the labour court, the Incident which occasioned the dismissal of respondent 2 by the domestic tribunal, was a silly Incident, which should not have led to a domestic enquiry or suspension or punishment of respondent 2. In an earlier part of the order, the labour court also expressed the opinion that even If the case put forward by the management is true, the conduct of respondent 2 cannot be said to be subversive of discipline. Views like these are not likely to be shared by other tribunals or by this Court, not to speak of the several domestic tribunals which are entrusted with disciplinary proceedings against the workmen employed In different concerns and business establishments. What la subversive of discipline and what Is a silly Incident and what is not so silly are best left to the concerned domestic tribunals who are on the spot and are much more acquainted with matters connected with the particular Industry and the atmosphere prevailing there.